A progressive outlook on politics in Australia and abroad

Value judgment

When a story begins by describing the disability pension as “an endless sickie“, you can bet it’s going to be objective and comprehensive in its attention to detail:

A RECORD number of Australians are taking an endless sickie at taxpayers’ expense, with figures showing 723,424 people getting the disability support pension.

The Telegraph goes on to present a story filled with the hallmarks of great journalism:

statistics that purport to show the extent of the problem and are intended to get hard-working taxpayers up in arms about how their money is being wasted:

“A Daily Telegraph investigation into the $12 billion disability support pension scheme reveals that the Howard government’s Welfare to Work reforms failed dismally to get recipients back into jobs.”

“Never before has the nation had so many disability pensioners – with another 12,104 signed up last year.”

“Back in June 1996, shortly after the Howard government took power, 499,233 people were on the benefit. The best that can be said is that growth has slowed – but the number taking the DSP is up 35,160 since 2003.”

selective and apparently damning quotations (“I wake up at 8.30am and then it’s coffee, cigarettes and bludge all day.”), without providing more than the barest context about why the subjects are on the pension or how they feel about being unable to work.

subtle plays on urban stereotypes to “blame the bogans” (“They live in nearby homes in the Mt Druitt area in Sydney’s west, the disabled pension capital of NSW where 3626 recipients reside.”), while ignoring the fact that the west and southwest have the cheapest property and rental prices in Sydney and are likely to be the only places where pensioners could afford to live.

near-total obliviousness to logic, e.g., “It comes at a time when the nation is so needy for workers that plans are under way to bring in unskilled workers from South Pacific islands.”, while ignoring the fact that someone with a bad back is unlikely to be able to perform the kind of physical tasks involved in most unskilled labour positions.

blind generalisations unsubstantiated by any evidence or attributed statements (“Observers seem to be in agreement that the major obstacle to getting more disabled pensioners back to work is the value of their pensions.”)